Friday, March 30, 2007

Funding has been made possible by...

Some great news! Just as I was beginning to feel a little bit down on myself and my photography, I received a letter from the Puffin Foundation, awarding me a grant to continue, and to prepare an exhibition of a long-term documentary project that I've been working on entitled "Between the Ideal and the Real". When I saw the paper-thin envelope, I prepared myself for the inevitable "We received many worthy applications this year, but..." I couldn't quite believe my eyes when I opened it up and a check fell out. It's quite the ego-boost, and I'll try not to let it go to my head too much. But after a long day of photo-assisting which mostly entailed: 1) me driving a van around Manhattan, desperately looking for someplace to park, and 2) me somehow accidentally giving myself paper cuts and bleeding all over everything towards the end of the day, this was just what I needed to raise my spirits. A huge thank you to the Puffin Foundation for taking an interest in my project and finding it worthy of funding. I am extremely grateful.

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Travel Notes by Christoph Bangert



Friend and fellow ICP alum Christoph Bangert just published his first book, Travel Notes. It's beautifully done, highly intelligent, and well worth checking out. Earlier this month, the Chelsea Barnes and Noble had a huge window display showing off the book, and it was quite a thrill to walk past it and see all his contact sheets, proof prints, maps and other representations of his cross-continental road trip illuminated in the New York City night.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Abbas Kiarostami: Image Maker



Acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami is currently having a major retrospective at MoMA/PS-1. If you happen to be in NYC, I encourage you to go. The complete films are being screened at MoMA (you can see the schedule here). MoMA is also exhibiting a video installation called "Five," and PS-1 has devoted several rooms to displaying his photographs (my favorite photographic series was entitled "Rain.") There is also a video installation at PS-1 called "Summer Afternoon."

So what are you waiting for? Go already!

Monday, March 05, 2007

Central Virginia's Finest Klezmer



Here's a promo photo I took in 2004 for my friends' band, the Vulgar Bulgars. It was my first attempt at music photography, and we had a fun time coming up with different concepts. It's no Annie Liebowitz, but I think the fun we were having that day shows in the picture, and that's what makes it interesting for me. For what it's worth, they're an amazing group of musicians--and that fiddle player riding in the garden cart is very cute, no?